Deer Lake Power is sending divers underwater to perform routine inspections at the three main structures that make up its power-generating arsenal.
Commercial divers began Wednesday at the forebay area, inspecting the trash racks, which are essentially large filtration screens designed to keep large objects out of the turbines further down the line. Thursday they will inspect the intake area and, weather permitting, they should finish up today at the main dam.
Whatever divers find, Deer Lake Power charge hand Dawson Strangemore said he’s been working at the power plant for 15 years and these inspections, which usually take place approximately every five years, have never yielded anything major that could not be handled.
“If they do find something, it can usually be fixed on the spot, like if a seam needs to be welded,” he said. “It can be brought up and taken care of right away, there is nothing that can’t be fixed.”
Other than weld seams, divers are looking for chipped or cracked concrete, metal breakage or any leaks and breaks in the apparatus. Diver Yve LeRoy, who on Wednesday dove into the first bay after all the equipment was shut down and locked out, went down about 18 feet and saw mainly leaves and other scattered debris, which he said, is quite normal.
Commercial divers like LeRoy have a camera attached with them, as well as a communications device so he can speak with and receive directions from personnel on the surface. The images he takes of the walls and various underwater equipment are transferred to a monitor in a nearby truck, where staff watch closely for any damage. The trips underwater are recorded to be viewed later.
Divers in this situation are performing what is known as a surface-supply dive, in which an umbilical runs between the diver and the surface for air, the camera and the communication device. Scuba diving cannot be used as the diver must be able to communicate with those at the surface.
This type of diving means having to swim through tunnels or any other enclosed spaces. But after 25 years, LeRoy said it’s not a problem.
“You get used to it,” said LeRoy. “It’s a lot safer than it was when I started out, there are a lot more safety regulations in place than there used to be.”
He said he has performed dives in conjunction with the police to search for a body. And once when he went into the water at another industrial facility he found a dead caribou pressed up against a filtration system.
A commercial diver, he said, has to be a “jack of all trades” who can handle welding and various other methods of fixing and repairing equipment.
The power plant was begun in the early 1920s as a power supply for the paper mill in Corner Brook. At one point it was the longest electricity transmission line in the world. Most of the original equipment is still in use in the main power plant along the Trans-Canada Highway.
